Not a vacation destination?

I’m throwing everyone’s warm winter vacation status updates in a corner, covering them with my wet snow gear, and not thinking about it anymore.

I mean, -12 degrees F ain’t so bad, right? Notice the tiny dash before the number twelve. That changes everything.

A wise friend recently opined that, “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad gear.” I’d have to agree wholeheartedly with him on that. My empathy certainly trickles to a frozen standstill (icicle?) when I see individuals clad in pumps and nylons dashing around Minneapolis at the height of frozen discomfort, the winter of their discontent (ha!). Get some boots, at least. You can change in the office.

And that’s not the only thing a fabulous set of boots are good for. On an afternoon like this there’s something indescribably refreshing about suiting up and heading outside. Have you ever taken a huge lungful of the air in this part of the world? It’s perfect. Clean, fresh, crisp, and cold. And because it’s winter nature has miraculously produced thousands of miles of new real estate to hike, drive, fish and skate on: lakes. Yep, there’s over 11,000 of these magnificent freshwater swimming pools turned skating rinks (10 acres or larger) in Minnesota. The best part is you can usually find plenty of space to enjoy the outdoors without encountering anyone else. It’s pretty fantastic.

Anyway, I love Minnesota all year round. It’s these kinds of days that bring into question why on Earth I choose to live here, but then I look outside at the quiet, serene beauty winter brings and I’m reminded of my love of the north country.